"What do you think of the taste of pain?" She asked while letting out a laugh. "Doesn't it feel like your entire body is being ripping apart right now?! Unlike before, you didn't even leave a kit for me to treat my own wound."
"Because you are tolerant to pain like this!" He shouted while grunting.
"Really? Tolerant to pain?" She smirked while looking down at him, although the spears pierced into her skin. "I am a human being Lewis... I used drugs to neutralize my pain, did you really think I was built like that? I sometimes faced overdose to keep myself alive. And then at the end, I would want to take my life to free myself from those suffering. None of you realized... Did you?!"
He tried to crawl backwards as his younger sister's red eyes glared back at him. The fact about the red eyes were... They were terrifying and dreamy at the same time—they practically glowed whenever she was mad or glared at something. Not only that, her hair almost always shadowed her face, in a way that her silver tips would turn greyish in the dim light.
"For a fact you never told anyone!"
"Of course no one tells anyone if they are suffering! You in particular never told me that you had a terminal illness until Henry told me! And you think I am going to tell you about my mental illnesses and injuries?!" She shouted back although the guards kept threatening her life. "But I guess it is none of your fault since I was the one who hid it expecting none of you found it out." She muttered more slowly while looking towards the ceiling. The spears followed along.
Lewis clenched his injury even more tightly as he signalled a guard to get him a medic. In that time, he decided he needed to distract her as much as he could.
"At the end of the day... You still jumped off the bridge—and that too at a time that I couldn't intervene. A person never stays the same after their siblings dies." He spoke while dragging her attention back at him.
"Then answer me this... Lewis. Why were you so nice to me when I almost drowned in the lake during the hunting competition?" She asked while keeping her eyes fixed at his paling complexion.
He looked at her, terrified. Then drifted his gaze over to the guards, nodding at then to leave them both alone.
They contemplated at least, thinking that if the spears were removed from her bleeding neck, she would try to attack their leader again.
"Just leave! —Ugh!" Lewis shouted while grabbing his injury tighter. The guards hesitantly obeyed, leaving Aefia standing in front of Lewis with a predatory shadow.
A drop of blood spilt from the corner of his mouth, making her wonder if she was even doing the right thing for a second. Her hands flew to her sleeves where she pulled out a small amount of the opioid and crouched down in front of him. He moved his face away when she offered it.
"Open your goddamn mouth Lewis. Or I will just have to make you inhale it." She ordered while slapping his face. He clicked his tongue before opening his mouth. "Flip your tongue to the underside." He did as he was told, as she poured the powder onto his mouth.
"It will start with a haziness and then a moment of dizziness before drowning down the pain entirely. Do remember to not consume it the next time or it will get more and more addictive. You may as well end up like me, which you don't want to happen—since you really hate me for it." Aefia explained while dusting her hands and then stepping back. He stayed silent for a long moment.
He slowly lifted his gaze to Aefia, trying to cause fear to roll up her sleeves—though his eyes were clouded with a rare moment of vulnerability. Slowly enough, he sat up straight on the ground while letting his hands hang beside him uselessly.
"Did you enjoy this feeling back then... Aefia?" He asked while looking down at his bloodstained hand. He felt as if he could run through dungeons and so much more without feeling any hint of pain.
"You could say so... I was dependant on it. Now that you look back, isn't it addictive?"
"It is... It gives me a feeling of euphoria that makes me want to laugh. Not only laugh, it makes me really... Happy." He answered back while lifting his gaze back up at Aefia, reaching his hand over to where she stood.
"Aefia... Help me up."
His voice was very low, almost like he was a prey seeking help from an apex predator after suffering heavily from a tertiary one. It was strained, as if he was the person Aefia knew from those times when he comforted her as an older brother.
However, he was the same brother who slapped her purposely and stabbed her to teach her a lesson—claiming that she would be able to withstand it. Brought her back into her own trauma, recreating it for her to suffer all over again. She crossed her arms in front of her.
Faced with all this, she hung her head low while letting out a laugh.
You could say that she was dwelling in her own thoughts of being naive when she walked into this palace—but that wasn't the case. She was being reminded of those times that Lewis was probably faking his sincere care for her, and how he was trying to fake it again right in front of her, right now.
She looked down at his outstretched hand, and then his anticipating face. He held a smile as if he was trying to be a good brother to her again, but how was that even possible anymore. He slapped her and stabbed her in front of someone who was plotting against her.
Elanor's betrayal wasn't even an inch painful to Lewis'. He didn't warn her that he would stab her, he didn't want her that he would slap her like that... Let alone—twice. As if reminding her he almost killed her twice before, and three times as of now.
That's nice to know... What a beautiful—But she still didn't hesitate to grab his hand and help him up. He stood on his feet while bending down to grab his knee, panting to try and recover from his lose of breathe.
"You know Lewis?" She asked while instantly yanking her hand from his. He looked hurt at her actions, but she immediately looked away from his vulnerable face. "You and I both have unhealed stab wounds... But the difference between situations... Is staggering." Aefia declared while taking a step back when he tried to hug her for support.
"I suffered that same pain when you suffocated me on the air that day when I returned critically injured." She continued without even glancing his way. "And I can't believe myself for helping you feel less pained right now—you should have suffered the way I did back then, and even in my room today.
"You should be left without care, which will force you into understanding what sort of a pain I went through. I am not saying this one-sidedly of course... I am just telling you what I suffered all those days I had been inhabitated inside this palace. I survived tortures every night but the next day, I was supposed to act like absolutely nothing bad happened. But truly, I was diving deeper into losing her sanity.
"I did go to the asylum to fix myself... True. However, I never really told them what happened with me, so they didn't give a care to it. Besides, even after going there, I never recovered from my drug addiction because of the pain I suffered throughout.
"Lewis... You said water has memories. Then do me a favour—after your recover—go through whatever I went through. My room is dusty and untouched as always, you can do whatever you want to find out what had happened to my mind before I took my life. You are always so upset with what I did... But even after I came back alive, you did what I least thought you would.
"On the hunting competition, you ignored my request to see through every hunt at the desired time that I wanted you to. Because of which... That bastard Kazimir took the oppurtunity to hit my head with a brick. Even after knowing I really meant it when I said what I had, you turned a blind eye and commensed the fighting without a moment of hesitation.
"You absolute freak of a brother—do you know what sort of a pain I went through that day? I sat sprawled on the ground while crying my vocal cords out because I was frustrated over myself. Don't tell me you are not suffering that same thing with yourself right now." She paused to finally turn her gaze at his silver head. Then immediately looked away while stepping behind him.
"Anyways... What bad thing did you ever do to deserve what I suffered. Afterall... One person's say can never be a protest. I will leave you to your medic—"
"Aefia." He whispered while grabbing her arm when she turned a blind-eye to him. "I am sorry for what I did. I was just blinded by greed over the throne... So I wasn't on my right mind. Please just forgive me... Let's have a proper conversation after I recover?"
She glared at his face while pulling her limp out of his grasp. "You are drugged Lewis. You are definitely not in your right mind right now too. So I don't believe a word you are saying. Sorry. I will reject your apology." She turned away from him, heading towards a door at one corner of the palace. Suddenly, she stopped dead on her track.
He let out a laugh while stumbling forward a step. "My little sister. You are still wearing that brooch I gave you on your birthday. Which means you are still willing to think of me as your brother." Lewis looked up at her retreating back with a smile.
She immediately tipped the red butterfly out of her collar and threw it at his feet. Turning to face him fully, while offering him a death stare. "You are delusional to think that. How about you run to your pretty throne and sob your problems there."
He stared at the red gemstones with wide eyes. Staying silent for a very long time.
"Here is what position you are in Lewis." She continued. "You are waiting for Henry to turn eighteen for his execution, your birth mother is being prepared for exile under your order and your elder brother is under arrest being ready for crowning you. And what can I say about me? I am just am outcast who you slapped today. Besides, I am not interested in whatever game you are going to play later. So bye... Brother. You are officially alone in your own chess board. Without having a single family member for support in the future." She mumbled as a guard pressed a spear at her throat and guided her away to the dungoens.
They chained her up, which he claimed as the first order when she fell unconscious. However, her mind was too blanked out to think about it anymore.
In detail, Lewis wanted his entire family to stop being a barrier to his throne. He said he knew that Aefia would pull out a new trick that would be several steps ahead of his plans and it will oppose his actions. He even though maybe Aefia would take the throne for herself and then give it to Henry while sending Lewis away. So he initially wanted to execute her along with Henry, but a little earlier since she will be eighteen sooner than their little brother.
But then, he happened to later think that Aefia's combat experience and her skills in maneuvering problems were going to serve him useful in the future against any opposing factions. So he decided he would tie her hands down before hand, and then give her a place as a chancellor to ease his access to her thoughts.
Every knight factions were all under his command. When a few houses rejected their offer, he took away their assets and left them homeless. That included the two Marquis house, three Viscount house, a Barony, two Count houses.
So right now, the Smod Imperial house presumbly has more than nine-hundred twenty thousand soldiers. Leaving out a few hundreds for the houses who offered him the battalions—in case they wanted to expand their territory and went into war. But not enough to take independence from the empire that is.
The information logged onto her mind with a precise accuracy—word for word. She found herself secretly glaring at nothing whenever something she heard was something that sounded stupid.
Seems like silver-head was dumber than purple heads.
As soon as she came to the threshold of the underground prison, she stood still without moving a single muscle. They tried to pull her by the chains tied to the metal cuffs on her wrist. A rather dark expression engulfed her face to the vision of the guards.
They immediately let go as they watched her melt the wrist cuffs.
The twenty days are over...
She immediately pulled out her short sword and stabbed the nearest guard while moving forward. Then, she stopped to look back at the blood bath behind her as a steak of a red dot land onto her hand—immediately igniting to shower the dim pathway with blinding light as Aefia finally confirmed she passed the test. Her injuries were gone, leaving behind a pristine figure who looked like she belonged to a throne higher than that Lewis was claiming. Her fingertips were glowing, dragging light out of the room to make the guards suffer in a tight area with limited resources.
She had eventually escaped... But because she had become the third Aethalgard.
Meanwhile, Lewis stared at the ground where the red gemstones gleamed back at him. He had worked quite hard to earn the money to buy that gift for her. He had to go through the entire library, staying up all night for three nights, just to show to George and the Empress he knew the struggle to earning money.
He barely slept while looking after Aefia, wanting to dedicate it into giving her something to show he truly loved his little sister even if they fight sometimes.
However, due to this greedy actions today, the brooch returned to his hand as if it were a curse than a present.